Head of Commissioning 80–100%

About the job

The SZU continuously develops its infrastructure, vehicles, systems and operational processes. To ensure that changes are not only implemented technically but also function safely and reliably in daily railway operations, a forward-looking planned and coordinated commissioning is required.

As Head of Commissioning, you lead this demanding task across projects and departments. You connect technology, operations, people and organisation into a functioning overall system – from early planning to stable handover to regular operations.

These are your tasks

• You develop the strategy and planning for commissioning and define phases, responsibilities, milestones and approval criteria.
• You lead commissioning as an independent, cross-project subproject and manage schedules, dependencies, risks and decision-making processes.
• You bring together the contributions of project managers and specialists into a common overall picture. In doing so, you ensure that the technical, operational, personnel and organisational prerequisites are met in good time.
• You lead readiness reviews, create transparency about open points and residual risks, and prepare well-founded go/no-go recommendations for the operations area and management.
• You coordinate tests, trial operations, training, exercises as well as fallback and emergency concepts.
• You lead the commissioning board and ensure that all participants work with a common situational picture, clear priorities and binding decisions.
• You coordinate the intensive commissioning phase and accompany the stabilisation until the orderly handover to regular operations.
• You secure the experiences from the projects and develop a lean, practical SZU system for future commissioning.

These are your key competencies

• You have a higher education in engineering, transport, business administration, project management or a comparable qualification.
• You have several years of experience as a project or programme manager of complex, interdisciplinary projects – ideally in the railway environment, public transport or a safety-critical environment.
• You bring experience in the areas of operations or commissioning, operational readiness, system integration, test management as well as the introduction of new systems and processes.
• You have a good understanding of safe operations, clear responsibilities and careful risk management.
• You know how to bring together different disciplines, contacts and interests and create binding agreements even without formal authority.
• You convince with a structured, analytical and solution-oriented working style as well as a calm and confident appearance.
• You have a confident command of German and the ability to communicate complex contexts understandably to experts, decision-makers and other stakeholders.

What we offer you as Head of Commissioning

You take on a central role at the interface between projects and railway operations. In doing so, you not only shape individual commissioning processes but also develop a binding SZU standard for the safe introduction of new infrastructures, vehicles, systems and processes together with us.

You work with colleagues from different disciplines and hierarchical levels, are close to the action in crucial project phases and keep an overview even when the go-live approaches. If you enjoy taking responsibility, connecting silos and developing simple, viable solutions from complex prerequisites, we look forward to hearing from you.

Do you accept the challenge?

Then we look forward to getting to know you. Simply upload your complete application documents via the button below. If you have any questions, our Head of Operations Claudio Rümbeli ( 076 261 37 09 *) and our HR specialist Karolina Gajer (phone 076 329 80 22 *) will be happy to answer them.